You Don’t Need A Lot of Money to Start a Business – Dr. Hilary Brown

Youth in Belize participating in a workshop in which they are being taught about entrepreneurship were encouraged to make the effort to start a business even if it is with a small amount of funding.

Programme Manager for Culture and Community Development at the CARICOM Secretariat, Dr. Hilary Brown, told the participants that they did not need a lot of money to start a business. She explained that they could start small and still become successful.

She was speaking at an opening ceremony for the third Creativity for Employment and Business Opportunity (CEBO) project being hosted in Belize within the last month. The first workshop was a Training of Trainers to assist in subsequent trainings, the second workshop targeted involuntary migrants, and the final workshop, which will conclude on Saturday, focuses on young people aged 16-29.

The objective of CEBO is to engage, inspire and create entrepreneurial interest and action among young CARICOM nationals as a means of addressing challenges such as youth unemployment, drug abuse and criminal activity especially among young people.

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Dr. Brown said that there had been numerous successes with the Programme. She said there had been many young persons who had gone on to develop businesses in spa products, agri-business and cultural products. She told participants that some of the CARICOM Member States had adopted the CEBO model and methodology and had continued to implement CEBO after being introduced to the model. She also remarked on the impact of the programme on those who had experienced it.

“What has made us all very encouraged by doing this programme is that so many of our participants have told us that CEBO was a life-changing experience for them, that it gave them hope, it gave them a second chance and it helped them to look at business in a new light,” Dr. Brown stated.

Youth Officer in the Belize Department of Youth Services, Adrienne Young, who participated in the Training of Trainers workshop held two weeks prior, spoke about her experience with the programme. She outlined that it gave participants the hands on experience of planning and budgeting so that they were better equipped to start a business. She said it also gave them the opportunity to learn and execute and had allowed them to cultivate with new and innovative ideas.

“CEBO in Belize has shown us that there are more creative ways that we can allow young people to explore their potential, explore what they are capable of and learn new skills that they didn’t know that they had,” she said.

Alternate CARICOM Youth Ambassador for Belize, Dominique Noralez, in her remarks, encouraged the beneficiaries to take up space and challenge themselves to grow. She also used the opportunity to thank the CARICOM Secretariat for pioneering a project that, according to her, had been blazing trails across the Region.

CEBO was developed in 2011-2012, through a partnership among the CARICOM Secretariat and stakeholders from the Region, to develop a CARICOM entrepreneurship project. So far, 13 Member States have benefited from the programme, including Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname and Trinidad and Tobago. Under this current phase, two countries, Barbados and Haiti have been added to the list.

This project is being implemented through the CARIFORUM Crime and Security Programme which has three components: drug demand and supply reduction; crime and violence prevention and social development; and capacity-building of law enforcement and security agencies and enhanced cooperation with Third States. Funding has been given by the European Union under the Tenth European Development Fund.

Source: CARICOM TODAY